At the Gates - _Slaughter of the Soul_(Earache, 1995)by: Brian Meloon (7 out of 10)

It should suffice to say the following: if you liked _Terminal Spirit Disease_, you'll like this, and if you didn't, it probably won't change your mind. There are a few new things this time around, such as playing with feedback, more guitar solos, and some keyboards, but mostly, this outing sticks to the style of _TSD_. The main change is that this is more to the straight death metal/rock side than their previous releases, with less melodic stuff and "wetter" guitar tones. Tomas's vocals are still very "rabid" this time around. He sounds like he's foaming at the mouth in a couple of places. There are two instrumentals here, both a different style than "The Scar" or "And the World Returns"; one is a more typical-sounding slow acoustic number (mostly clean arpeggios), and the other features keyboards heavily, and brings in distorted guitars near the end. Both are nice, but I prefer their older, more unique style. The production is pretty good, but I don't really go for the guitar tone; it's too "death rock" for me. There are eleven tracks here, with the longest clocking in at 3:52, and the shortest 2:12, but most right around 3:00, making it a little difficult to get into the songs, since they're over right away. But, while this is a little behind _TSD_, it's still pretty good.